Security of shipped objects in supply chains has been a problem for manufacturers, shippers, distributors, and recipients of shipped goods for thousands of years. Security issues have been addressed by many different techniques, including various types of seals, such as wax seals, markings and encodings, trusted distributors and distribution agencies, trademarks, armed guards, and, more recently, mechanical and electronic devices and computer-based systems for ensuring that an object sent from a source point in a supply chain reaches a destination point intact, untampered with, undamaged, and in a timely fashion. However, as methods for securing shipment of objects have evolved, methods used by counterfeiters and thieves to defeat security methods have also evolved. As a result, theft, counterfeiting, shipment delays, and shipment-routing problems continue to plague supply chains.
One important example of supply-chain-security problems in contemporary commerce is the shipment of pharmaceuticals from pharmaceutical manufacturers to various distributors and retail outlets. FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a pharmaceutical-supply-chain context used, in subsequent subsections, as one context for application of the methods of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a large pharmaceutical manufacturer 102 manufacturers pharmaceuticals that are shipped, in the case of FIG. 1, by rail 104 to a number of centralized distribution facilities, such as centralized distribution facility 106. From these centralized distribution centers, smaller shipments 108 of pharmaceuticals are made to a number of regional distribution centers, including regional distribution center 110 in FIG. 1, from which the pharmaceuticals are then shipped by local transport 112 to a number of local distribution centers, including local distribution center 114 in FIG. 1. The pharmaceuticals are finally distributed, by local transport 116, to a number of retail outlets, such as the drugstore 118 shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the pharmaceuticals may be initially shipped in bulk 202 from the pharmaceutical manufacturer to centralized distribution facilities. The pharmaceuticals may be packaged into bottles at the centralized distribution facilities, and shipped in large packages 204 to regional distribution centers. In the regional distribution centers, the containers may be repackaged 206 into smaller-volume packages, in which the pharmaceuticals are distributed through the supply chain to local distribution centers, from which either small packages or individual bottles 208 of the pharmaceuticals may be distributed to retail outlets. At the retail outlet, pharmaceuticals may again be repackaged into familiar prescription bottles for individual consumers.
The pharmaceutical supply chain illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 is but one example of a myriad possible organizations of pharmaceutical supply chains. In some cases, the pharmaceuticals may be fully packaged by the manufacturer in the packaging in which the pharmaceuticals are intended to be delivered to retail outlets. In other cases, bulk powdered or liquid pharmaceuticals may be shipped by manufacturers to secondary drug manufacturers, where they are formed into pills, gelatin capsules, glass bottles with rubber septa for loading syringes, and other final drug products, and then distributed to the supply chain. Retail outlets are but one example of a destination point in a supply chain. In the pharmaceutical-supply-chain context, for example, other destination points include clinics, hospitals, government agencies, and other health care establishments.
Drug counterfeiting has become an increasingly common and increasingly dangerous problem for pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors, retail outlets, health-care facilities, and consumers. Drug counterfeiters seek to insert falsely labeled, counterfeit pharmaceuticals into the supply chain at various intermediate points in the supply chain in between the manufacturer, or other trusted source point, and a destination point, such as a retail outlet. By doing so, the counterfeiters can circumvent patent rights, government oversight and quality standards, and other well-designed and protective barriers to entering the pharmaceuticals marketplace. However, counterfeit drugs may be either ineffective or dangerous. Therefore, manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and consumers of pharmaceuticals have all recognized the need for improved security techniques for ensuring that the pharmaceuticals received by retail outlets, consumers, and health-care facilities are the legitimate products shipped from trusted source points in the pharmaceutical supply chain, including manufacturers, secondary drug manufacturers, centralized distributors, and other trusted points in the pharmaceutical supply chain.